Terrorist's Trial: Fair Trial For Suspect Vs Protection Of Witnesses

Earlier this Friday, a judge of the federal high court in Abuja, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, during the ongoing trial of Senator Aliyu  Mohammed Ndume, a Peoples Democratic Party member representing Borno south senatorial district at Nigeria's National Assembly who is facing trial on terrorism charges, ordered that the trial would be conducted in partial secrecy.

By this order, only accredited journalists will be in attendance with the accused person and his team of lawyers when the trial resumes. But the judge refused to grant the request of the State Security Services, SSS; a security agency in Nigeria, for the witnesses to be masked to conceal their identities for fear of possible reprisal attacks by supporters of the senator who is hugely popular in his area in the beleaguered state of Borno, Northwestern Nigeria where the Boko Haram sect had unleashed series of deadly attacks for some years now.

The court insisted that the witnesses' facial identities need to be known by the accused and his lawyers to enable the witnesses be cross examined by the senator's lawyers, but that residential addresses and work place addresses of the witnesses would not be revealed.

The judge attempted to create a balance between ensuring that the senator gets a fair trial as guaranteed by Nigeri's constitution, and the protection of the witnesses who are billed to testify in the trial.

Which is more important? A fair trial or the safety of witnesses who have shown great courage in testifying against a very popular politician in a terrorism trial?



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